When we turned up at the park at 8am they were frantically towing away cars still parked in Preston Park Ave and there were still numberous cars and traveller vans parked in Preston Drove that they hadn't started on.
It seems that all were removed with the exception on one in each road that just got taped off for the runners to go round. I guess they ran out of time and couldn't keep the 8000 runners waiting any longer.
Next year this should probably be a job for the night before then place hundreds of cones and notices up in the road. Think they also need more toilets in the park and around the course. People were weeing everywhere in Preston Park because the toilet queues were so long. There was also a crowd of men weeing against a tree in the School at Ovingdean which I thought was not a good image for the marathon, particularly as it was on show for Ovingdean residents and could also possibly jepardise the marathon being allowed to run through the school in future years.
I would also like to say thank you to all the Marshalls like Tom that helped on the day, and also for the great support from the spectators which made the day so special. It was good to spot Sweder and Seafront Plodder along the route. And also well done to MarathonDan and StillWaddler.
4:07 is my slowest ever road marathon, and some 4 minutes slower than I ran Beachy Head Marathon in Oct 2008, but it was a good result after only running 7 miles in a month and it was also so important to finish because of the Team Moyleman fundraising. I had to start power walking at 18 miles due to hip and back stiffness which really helped. It was a huge relief at about 23 miles to know that I was going to make it to the line and make it through the race without injuring my calf again.
Got The Argus marathon special today and Gus the Ape is one of the stars in the photos. Picture can be viewed here and purchased:-
http://3401.e-printphoto.co.uk/nqsussex/index.cfm?z=z&y=y&p_id=14575811&c_id=14586&action=view
